Machine for countersinking nuts



March 1934- L. A. FRAYER MACHINE FOR COUNTERSINKING NUTS Filed Nov. 14, 1929 3 Sheets-Sheet l March 13, 1934. PRAYER 1,950,939

MACHINE FOR GOUNTERSINKING NUTS Filed Nov. 14, 1929 3 Sheet's-Sheet 2 mmmjjg March 13, 1934. L. A. FRAYER 1,950,939

MACHINE FOR COUNTERSINKING NUTS Filed Nov. 14, 1929 :5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Q3550 L L Y: 76

gh 72, 77 A l (7 j 75 80 F a I 74 i lrz qerzfolf Patented Mar. 13, 1934 UNITED STATES MACHINE FOR COUNTERSINKING NUTS Lee A. Frayer, Kent, Ohio, assigncr to Roy H. Smith, Kent, Ohio Application November 14, 1929, Serial No. 407,136

7 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in a method and machine for countersinking nuts.

One of the objects of the invention is the provision of a method and means for rapidly and efiiciently countersinking nuts or nut blanks on both sides thereof.

Another object is the provision of a method and means of this character in which the rotating tools themselves are employed for effect- -ing the necessary movements of the nuts in their travel through the countersinking machine.

Other objects and features of novelty will appear as I proceed with the description of that embodiment of the invention which, for the purposes of the present application, I have illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figures 1 and 2 are end and side elevations, respectively, of a machine which may be employed in carrying out the invention.

Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional view taken substantially on the line 33 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a horizontal sectional view taken substantially on the line 4-4 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 5 is a horizontal section taken substantially on the line 5-5 of Fig. 3.

Fig. 6 is an elevational View, partly in section, of a double feeding device which may be employed in connection with the invention.

Fig. '7 is an enlarged view of a fragment of 'the same.

Figs. 8 and 9 are side and top plan views, respectively, of a nut receiver and holder.

Figs. 10 and 11 are elevational and vertical sectional views, respectively, of the same.

Similar reference characters refer to like parts throughout the views.

In the drawings, the body of my countersinking machine is shown at 10, being provided with supporting legs 11. An electrical motor 12 to furnish the driving power for the machine may be suspended upon the body 10, and may be fitted with a pulley 13. The body 10 is a hollow box-like casting, as illustrated in Fig. 3. Above it is mounted another frame or body casting 14, these two castings together forming a compartment within which is located the cam mechanism of the machine.

In bearings mounted at the line of juncture between the two castings 10 and 14, there is supported a shaft 15, to which is keyed the hub of a Worm wheel 16. The latter meshes with a worm 17 on a shaft 18 mounted above; the worm wheel and having its axis in the central plane of the worm wheel. The shaft 18 is rotatably supported, preferably in ball bearings 19, 20, 21 and 22, mounted in the casting 14. On one extremity of the shaft 18 there is secured a pulley 23 in alignment with the motor pulley 13, these two pulleys being operatively connected by means of a belt, the position of which is indicated at 24 in Fig. 2.

Near the ends of the shaft 18, I aifix thereto relatively wide spur gears 24 and 25, respectively. Each of these gears meshes on one side with a spur gear 26 or 26 and on the other side with a similar gear 2? or 27. Because of the width of the gears 24 and 25, it is possible for the gears 26, 26', 2"? and 27' to have considerable movement while remaining in mesh with the gears 24 and 25. Each one of the gears 26, 26', 27 and 2'? is keyed to a hollow spindle 28, and as these spindle constructions are nearly identical a description of one will serve for all.

Referring, therefore, to Fig. 3, the spindle 28 is rotatably supported in ball bearings 29 and 30, the outer races of which are mounted in a sleeve 31 which is longitudinally slidable ina cylindrical guide 32 constituting part of the frame member 14. The spindle 28 at its inner end has a head 33 within which are mounted three set screws 34 that take into the grooves of a countersinking drill 35. A threaded backing rod 36 is slidable within the rear end of the spindle 28 and is threaded within a cup 37 that is screwed onto the outer end of the spindle. The outer end of rod 36 is provided with a screw driver slot for convenience in manipulation and a lock nut 38 surrounding the rod 36 serves to lock the latter in any adjusted position.

The inner end of sleeve 31 is covered by a flanged plate 39. From the flange of this plate a pair of pins 49 extend inwardly and they cooperate with bayonet slots in the sleeve for removably attaching these two parts together. The plate 39 has a central opening. In this opening is supported a shouldered tubular guide 41 which is held in position by a ring 42, the latter being attached to the rear surface of plate 39 by screws 43. The exposed end of the tubular guide 41 is serrated in order to provide an exit for chips out from the work. The rod 38 is threaded into the cup 3'7 sufiiciently to cause the inner end of the rod to push the drill 35 out through the sleeve 41 somewhat beyond the serrations of the latter, the degree of this adjustment determining the depth of the out.

Intermediate its ends, the sleeve 31 is provided with two oppositely located recesses 44. In these recesses are positioned the upper circular extremities of a lever 45, comprising two spaced bars of identical construction. Between the lower ends of these spaced bars, there is a nut 46 having trunnions 47 rotatably supported in the bars of the lever. The nut 46 receives a screw 48 on the inner end of a shaft 49 which is rotatably mounted in a boss on the base 10, and which may be turned by a crank 50 keyed to the shaft. A shoulder 51 on the shaft prevents longitudinal movement in one direction and. a nut 52 threaded upon the outer end of the shaft serves to lock it in adjusted position. The trunnions 47 constitute the fulcrum of the lever 45, which is capable of adjustment in and out by the rotation of shaft 49. Between the two parts of the lever 45, there is pivoted a block 53 against which rests a plunger 54 mounted in a slide bearing in the casting 14. On its outer end this plunger carries a spring retainer 55 which forms an abutment for one end of a coil spring 56, the opposite end of which surrounds a circular boss 5'7 carried by the frame. The upper end of lever 45 is thus urged toward the middle of the machine.

On the shaft 15 beneath the two forward spindles 28, there are keyed two cams 58 and 59, while at the rear of the machine above the rear spindles 28, the shaft 15 carries two similar cams 60 and 61. Between the spaced bars of that lever 45 which is at the front righthand side of the machine a cam roller 62 is mounted to bear upon the cam 58. The other levers 45 carry similar rollers 63 bearing upon the cam 59, 64 bearing upon the cam 60, and 65 bearing upon cam 61. Spacers 66 on the roller spindles keep the rollers in alignment with their respective cams. In operation, the various cams swing the levers outward, and their return movement is effected by the springs 56.

The sleeves 31 which are located at the front right and the rear left corners of the machine carry tubular guides 41, while those at the front left and rear right corners carry tubular guides 41, which are similar to the guides 41 except that they extend a greater distance outward from the end plates 39. The guides 41, with the corresponding drills mounted therein, are adapted to move into and out of nut chutes 66 that are supported from any suitable hopper 6'7, which in this case is bolted to the top of the casting 14 at the middle thereof. Each chute 66 has in one side thereof a vertical recess 68 covered throughout a part of its length by a sheet metal plate 69 which may be pivotally mounted upon a stud 70 and may be locked in operative position by another stud 71 projecting through a slot in the plate. By this means it is possible for the operator to gain access quickly to the interior of the chute should the nuts become jammed therein. At the lower end of the chute below the plate 69 there is a further plate '72 removably held in place by any suitable means, this latter plate being provided with an arched opening 73 of a width approximately equal to jthe small diameter of the nuts being fed. The

recess 74 in which I fit a nut receiving and hold' ing' member 75, retained in place by meansof screws '75. ,This member comprises a pair of ilaterally projecting guidebars '76, which are inclined on their inner sides to the proper angle for the nuts with which they are to cooperate, the angle in the case illustrated being 60 for use with hex nuts. These projections fit within the sides of the recess 68 and thus hold the member 75 against rotation. Within the circular part of' the member 75 there is an opening to receive the nut, this opening having alternate sides 77, '78 and '79 adapted to receive the nut with a fairly close fit, while the remaining sides 80, 81 and 82 are relieved so as not to contact with the nut. Thus a three sided bearing is provided and the chattering of the nut during the countersinking operation is avoided. The two lower inclined sides '77 and 78 are continuations of the inner surfaces of the guide members '76, as will be apparent from an inspection of Fig. 11.,

Within the hopper 67 there will preferably be some means for agitating the nuts. In the present instance, I have shown an oscillating arm 83 mounted on a shaft 84. To the end of this shaft outside of the hopper, I key a crank 85, upon the outer end of which there is a universal connection 86 to which I attach a connecting rod 87 that is pivotally connected with a crank 88 on the end of a shaft 89 which is driven from shaft 18 by means of a worm and worm wheel connection 90, 91.

Operation.-Nuts or unthreaded nut blanks, preferably the latter, are shovelled or otherwise delivered into the hopper 6'7 and find their way down in two columns in the chutes 66. The operation of the machine upon the nuts or nut blanks in these two columns is identical and will be described as to one of them only, it being understood that machines having a single column or more than two columns of nuts can be designed and built without departing from the spirit of the present invention in its broader aspects.

The first nut finding its way down the chute drops onto the uppersurfaces of the guide bars 76, and by them is caused to assume the position illustrated in the drawings. The upper side of this nut, therefore, presents a fiat horizontal surface onto which the next succeeding nut impinges. The latter nut naturally assumes the position in which its center of gravity can descend lowest, that is with a flat lower surface next upon the flat upper surface of the lower nut. All of the nuts above for similar reasons assume like positions.

Motor 12 being started, shaft 18 is revolved and shaft 15 is driven at a relatively slow speed through worm 17 and worm wheel 16. All of the spindles 28 are rotated through their gears 26 or 26' from wide gears 24 and 25 on the shaft 18, the speed of the spindles in the present case approximating that of the motor 12. The shaft 15 in rotating carries with it the cams 58, 59 and 60, 61. The former cams, being those toward the forward side of the machine, in their rotation swing the levers 45 outward and retract the sleeves 31 with their spindles 28 and drills 35. Assuming that the tubular guide 41 surrounding the left-hand drill had been thus withdrawn before the motor was started, the rotation of cam 59 then gradually permits the guide 41' to travel inwardly under the compulsion of the left-hand spring 56. The drill within the guide contacts with the lowermost nut and pushes it along the guide bars '76 into the opening in the nut holder '75, as indicated at the rear of Fig. 4. At the same time, the tubular guide 41 moves from its position illustrated in Fig. 4 toward the left, this movement being permitted by the rotation of the cam 58, in time to stop the sliding movement of the nut while it is still within the holder. The two drills in the tubular guides 41 and 41' are, of course, constantly rotating, and as soon as the two of them contact the nut on either side of the latter their cutting action begins. The feeding of the drills into the work thereafter is continued by the springs 56 until the teeth on the guides 41 and 41' engage the sides of the nut. The two guides 41 and 41' now move toward the right, the guide 41 travelling somewhat faster than the guide 41' so as to increase the distance between them. Hence as soon as the nut (marked N in the drawings) has been discharged from the holder '15, as indicated in Fig. 3 and at the front in Fig. 4, it is free to drop into any convenient container or conveyor. The final movement of guide 41 toward the right may be followed by a quick return so as to produce a jerking or snapping action, aiding gravity in discharging the nut.

During the operations above described, the column of nuts in the chute is supported upon the top of tubular guide 41. Now, the latter moves backwardly out of the chute and permits the column of nuts to descend until the lowest one rests upon and is centered by the guide bar 76, after which the cycle of operations repeats itself. I preferably so arrange the two sets of earns 58, 59 and 60, 61 upon the shaft 15, that the actual countersinlring of nuts on the front and rear sides of the machine occurs at different times, thereby evening up the load upon the motor 12.

While in the foregoing description and in the accompanying drawings, I have illustrated one embodiment of my invention more or less in detail, I desire it to be understood that such detail disclosure is resorted to primarily for the purpose of fully illustrating the invention, and is not to be construed as amounting to a limitation upon the scope thereof.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is:

1. In a machine of the class described, a nut holder having a guide upon which a nut on edge is adapted to slide and means cooperating with said guide for preventing rotation of the nut, a rotating countersinking tool adapted to limit the movement of a nut in said guide, a rotating countersinking tool adapted to engage the opposite side of the nut, and means for moving said last named tool axially to push the nut along said guide into engagement with the first named tool and thereafter to feed said tools into the work, said means acting further to produce axial travel of the tools at different rates of speed for discharging the nut from said holder.

2. In a machine of the class described, a nut holder adapted to slidably engage the wrench facets of a nut and hold it against rotation, a pair of tools in axial alignment with said holder and positioned one on either side thereof, means for rotating said tools and feeding them toward each other to machine a nut in said holder, and means for moving both said tools endwise in the same direction to a different extent, whereby the nut is ejected from the nut holder and released from the tools.

3. In a machine of the class described, a nut holder having elongated facet engaging surfaces, a pair of cutting tools in axial alignment with said holder and positioned one on either side thereof, means for rotating said tools and feeding them toward each other to machine a nut in said holder, means for pushing one tool and pulling the other endwise in the same direction to a different extent and for suddenly stopping and reversing the movement of the pushing tool after the nut is out of the holder, whereby the nut is ejected from the holder and snapped off of the pushing tool.

4. In a machine of the class described, means for receiving a nut and positioning the same about a predetermined center line, a stationary holder having an opening therethrough axially aligned with said center line, said opening having surfaces for engagement with the wrench facets of the nut to hold the same against rotation while permitting axial movement within the holder, and means adapted to approach the nut relatively from opposite sides along said center line for countersinking both sides of the nut while confined by said holder, said countersinking means moving after the countersinking operations are completed to slide the nut axially out of the holder and release the same.

5. In a machine of the class described, a nut holder having an axial opening therethrough, said opening having surfaces for sliding engagement with. wrench facets of a nut for preventing rotation of the nut, an axially arranged reciprocable element for engagement with the nut on one side thereof, an axially arranged reciprocable rotating countersinking tool adapted to engage the opposite side of the nut, and means for moving said reciprocable element and tool axially relative to each other for countersinking the nut while surrounded by the holder and for thereafter causing the said element to recede and the side tool to advance at different rates of speed for discharging the nut from the holder.

6. In a machine of the class described, a nut holder having an axial opening therethrough, said opening having surfaces for sliding engagement with wrench facets of a nut for preventing rotation of the nut, an axially arranged reciprocable element for engagement with the nut on one side thereof, an axially arranged reciprccable rotating countersinking tool adapted to engage the opposite side of the nut, and means for moving said reciprocable nut and tool axially relative to each other for countersinking the element while surrounded by the holder and for thereafter causing the said element to recede and the said tool to advance at different rates of speed for discharging the nut from the holder, said means comprising a yieldable member.

7. In a machine of the class described, a nut chute, a nut holder adapted to slidably engage the wrench facets of a nut and hold it against rotation, a guide in front of said holder, said guide being located at the bottom of said chute, a rotary tool in axial alignment with the guide and holder, and means for rotating said tool and moving it endwise during rotation to push a nut along said guide into said holder and to machine the nut while in said holder, and a rotating tool upon the opposite side of the nut moving axially of the holder to perform an operation upon the nut and simultaneously to oppose the pressure of said first named tool during its machining operation.

LEE A. FRAYER. 

